Crackdown
on civic groups continues as police raid ZESN offices

Police have been criticized for intensifying
their crackdown on civil society organizations, after the latest raid on the
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) offices in Harare.

Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights director Irene Petras, who is also vice chairperson
of ZESN, said officers raided the offices on Tuesday looking for subversive
material, documents, gadgets or recordings and illegal
immigrants.

Petras told SW Radio Africa that the police search
warrant was the same as the one used to raid the offices of the Zimbabwe
Peace Project recently.

“The raids are carried out by the Law and Order
unit of the police but we don’t know where the instructions are coming from.
It’s quite confusing. One minute we hear from politicians that they have
been discussing this, and that attacks on civil society organizations are
going to cease, and the next minute there is a raid of another
organization.

“So it seems the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand
is doing,” Petras said.

Petras said the police are on a fishing
expedition to gather information and intelligence to try and disrupt the
work of key organisations as the country prepares for the referendum and
elections.

Social commentator Rejoice Ngwenya was facilitating a
Political Parties Finance Act review planning meeting at the ZESN offices
when the police came to search the premises. He said it was ironic that ZANU
PF had also sent its participants to this meeting.

A ZESN statement
said police broke down a durawall panel and went on to search all offices,
after which they took documents pertaining to ZESN’s projects and plans for
observing the referendum. Earlier that same day the organisation’s Masvingo
office had also been broken into at 2 am and boardroom chairs, one computer
and 60 t-shirts were taken by unidentified assailants.

State
sponsored intimidation appears to be increasing as the country prepares to
go to the polls.

Last week scores of activists from the pressure group
Women of Zimbabwe Arise were beaten and arrested during anti-police
brutality demonstrations in Harare and Bulawayo. It’s reported that at least
25 WOZA members had to seek medical attention after their treatment at the
hands of police. One woman had to have three teeth removed after having been
struck in the face.

A Newsday journalists was arrested on Monday at
Mutare police station where he had gone to make a report after he had been
threatened with death by a suspended Zanu PF provincial youth
chairman.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Association says the ZESN crackdown
brings to a total of seven civic groups that have fallen victim to police
raids within a space of two months.

Meanwhile WOZA activist, Bertha
Sibanda, who disrobed inside the Bulawayo police station in protest after
she was beaten during their demonstration last week, was released on bail
Monday after spending the weekend in detention. Last month a ZANU PF
activist Sheila Mutsenhu removed her clothes in front of the US Ambassador
to Zimbabwe, protesting the targeted sanctions imposed by western countries.
She wasn’t arrested.

WOZA said in a statement: “It is clear that if you
are a member of Zanu PF you can strip without consequence in front of the
American ambassador but if you happen to be a member of WOZA, you are denied
access to food, held in police custody for 4 days then you are arraigned
before court that will continue to use scarce resources to persecute you by
prosecution.”

Last week co-Home Affairs Minister Teresa Makone revealed
that cabinet had discussed the unwarranted harassment and arrest of innocent
citizens.Although the minister is in charge of the police, she admitted that
she does not have the power to make the police respect the rule of
law.

Ngwenya said both Makone and deputy Justice Minister Obert Gutu have
to make an effort, even if their hands are tied.

“We want to see
serious sounds, we want to hear vibrations, we want to hear protests, we
want to hear them even talk about litigation. We want to see Teresa Makone
getting out meetings with civil society and the police to reassure
Zimbabweans.”

Ngwenya added: “Even if they do not have any legitimate
power to do anything there is nothing that stops them from making the right
noises. There is so much lethargy and paralysis in those two ministries that
we wonder if they are just sitting on the leeward side of the gravy train
and forgetting about the struggle.”

When contacted for comment
Minister Makone said she was in parliament. We could not reach Gutu or ZANU
PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo.

Violent Chegutu ‘war vet’
removed from sanctions list

The EU has lifted sanctions on Chegutu ‘war vet’
Gilbert Moyo led the beating of Ben Freeth in 2008

By Alex Bell19 February
2013

Shock is being expressed over
the European Union (EU) decision to remove a notoriously violent ‘war vet’ from
its list of targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe, despite the man being guilty of
serious crimes.

EU diplomats met in Brussels
on Monday to decide Zimbabwe’s sanctions future, and decided that 21 individuals
and one business entity would be de-listed. The EU said in its reasoning that it
“welcomes the breakthrough in the constitution making process as a significant
step forward in implementing the Global Political Agreement.”

21 people, including Chegutu
‘war vet’ Gilbert Moyo, have been de-listed, along with one company named as
Divine Home (Pvt) Ltd which is linked to one of the individuals who have been
removed from the list. Visa bans on six government ministers, including Tourism
Minister Walter Mzembi and Media Minister Webster Shamu, have also been
lifted.

The EU gives only brief
details about who they add to their blacklist and why. But research by SW Radio
Africa would indicate that Gilbert Moyo is the ‘war vet’ implicated in serious
violence in Chegutu for many years.

This includes the abduction
and brutal beatings of former Chegutu farmer Ben Freeth and his parents-in-law,
Mike and Angela Campbell, in 2008. Freeth and his in-laws were abducted on the
same day that Robert Mugabe was being sworn into office after the one-man
presidential run off poll that year.

Freeth recounted the
experience during an interview with SW Radio Africa on Tuesday, and explained
that he identified Moyo as the leader of the gang that abducted him and the
Campbells on that Sunday, 29th June 2008.

Mike and wife Angela Campbell were abducted by a gang
of ZANU PF supporters lead by Gilbert Moyo and savagely
beaten

“They took us to their
militia camp and beat us severely. I had a fractured skull, broken ribs, severe
bruising. I nearly lost an eye and I had a stab wound to the arm. Mike had seven
broken bones and Angela had a serious break to her arm and she was beaten around
the face. They also thrust a burning stick into her mouth,” Freeth
explained.

Mike Campbell passed away in
April 2011 after never fully recovering from his injuries.

Moyo was never brought to
book, despite eventually being tracked down in the Mike Campbell’s car, that he
stole during the abduction. Freeth explained that they managed to get Moyo
detained, but he was set free.

Freeth also explained how
Moyo was notorious in Chegutu, particularly in 2008, for going door-to-door at
all locals farms and houses “terrorising people and looting their
homes.”

He also led the violent
invasion of different farms as part of the land grab campaign, including the
property belonging to James Ogden Brown. Moyo terrorised the family and their
children in their home before eventually succeeding in running them off the
property. He also led the invasion of the farm owned by Bruce and Netty Rogers,
who were also brutally beaten in that attack.

“This is the guy the EU says
is fine now. I don’t understand how they can take a man who has been committing
crimes against humanity off their list. He has never been brought to trial. He
has had absolute impunity for his crimes. Of course the police don’t touch the
untouchables and nor it appears does the European Union,” Freeth
said.

Supreme
Court Judge new ZEC chairperson

Supreme Court Judge Rita Makarau is to become the next chairperson
of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), SW Radio Africa learnt on
Tuesday.

The former Judge President of the High Court, appointed to the
Supreme Court in 2010, came out as the consensus figure when President
Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai met in Harare on Monday
to choose the new ZEC chair.

The principals to the GPA, who included
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, agreed on Makarau during their
Monday meeting but refused to identify her to the media.

Tsvangirai
explained to journalists that they needed to consult with the candidate
first before releasing the name. The former law lecturer at the University
of Zimbabwe will replace Simpson Mutambanengwe, the former ZEC chair who
resigned last week citing health reasons.

If she agrees to her new
appointment, Makarau is expected to take charge of ZEC immediately. SW Radio
Africa is reliably informed Makarau’s appointment was by consensus, although
both the MDC formations know of her past links to ZANU PF.

In the
1990’s she was appointed a non-constituency MP by Mugabe before she left
parliament to join the bench. Political commentator Daniel Molokele, a
former law student of Makarau’s at the UZ, said the MDC formations have
limited options when it comes to the appointment of the ZEC
chair.

The constitution is clear that the chairperson should be an active
or retired judge. Since independence all judges, current or retired, have
been appointed by Mugabe and may be perceived as close to or pro-ZANU PF.
But Makarau apparently received a seal of approval from the MDC formations,
who describe her as a principled judge.

‘I think in terms of
background, she’s one of the few judges the MDC formations view as a
moderate. I think they can work with her as someone who is professional,’
Molokele said.

Another appointment has been that of Jacob Mudenda to
replace Professor Reg Austin as the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Human Rights
Commission.

Molokele offered a damning critique of Mudenda, described as
a strong ally of party strongman Emmerson Mnangagwa. He has been alleged
that he has been behind a series of human rights abuses, especially in the
Matabeleland provinces.

‘I find his appointment very difficult to
accept. He’s one person who hasn’t been outspoken on human rights issues. He
hasn’t been a human rights advocate, he’s more of a political appointee than
a rights advocate,’ Molokele said.

He emphasized that he had no faith
in Mudenda’s ability to crack the whip on human rights abusers from ZANU PF,
a party he belongs to and once served as governor for Matabeleland
North.

‘He’s a former high ranking official of ZANU PF and there’s no way
you can expect him to crackdown on people from that party…its not going to
happen,’ Molokele explained.

Zanu PF
lawyer to head human rights body

HARARE- Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday announced
new heads for the country’s human rights and electoral commissions ahead of
crucial polls this year.

Tsvangirai told journalists a former
governor from President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party was the new
chairperson of the human rights commission following the resignation of top
lawyer Reg Austin in January.

Austin cited lack of facilities including
an office for the commission among reasons for his
resignation.

“Jacob Mudenda will chair the human rights commission,”
Tsvangirai said. “We have considered his past. We believe he is capable,
being a lawyer and a member of the commission.”

Zimbabwe is expected
to hold a constitutional referendum on March 16 and elections in July, which
will end the shaky coalition, but no dates have been set. Elections in
Zimbabwe have been marred by human rights violations including killings of
political opponents, beatings and intimidation.

Tsvangirai said a high
court judge would replace former judge Simpson Mutambanengwe who retired
last week as the electoral commission chief on health grounds.

“There
were a couple of names but we arrived at somebody on the bench,” Tsvangirai
said. “I am not at liberty to reveal the name at this stage because the
individual has not been informed.”

Tsvangirai confirmed Mutambanengwe’s
resignation was voluntary, adding that the former commission chief had
undergone an operation and needed close medical monitoring.

Ahead of
the votes the two main political parties – Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and Tsvangirai’s
Movement for Democratic Change – have said they support the adoption of the
draft charter.

But the MDC has said it would want more reforms in the
media, security and electoral sectors for the southern African country to
hold free and fair elections. Tsvangirai said $100m was needed for the
referendum and that the money would be raised in the country through taxes
and loans from local companies. SAPA

Reporter
arrested while reporting death threat by ZANU PF official

A journalist with the privately-owned
NewsDay newspaper, Obey Manayiti, is in police custody after he was arrested
in Mutare on Monday.

Press reports indicate that Obey had gone to Mutare
Central Police Station to report death threats made against him by Tawanda
Mukodza, the ousted ZANU PF provincial youth chairman.

Manayiti told
NewsDay that Mukodza spotted him in the city centre and pursued him,
threatening him with death. The reporter is said to have jumped into a taxi
and fled to the police station, where he intended to make a
report.

However on arrival, Manayiti was arrested and charged with
criminal insult after Mukodza had lodged an earlier complaint claiming the
reporter had insulted him.

Manayiti was then asked to report back at
the police station Tuesday, when he was charged under the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act. He will spend the night in police cells and
is expected to appear in court Wednesday. He is represented by Takaidza and
Mubata Legal Practitioners.

A source at NewsDay said: “This case
demonstrates the selective and partisan application of the law by the
police. Instead of investigating both cases, they were biased in favour of a
ZANU PF official.”

Mukodza was the ZANU PF provincial youth chairman for
Manicaland, before he was sacked on allegations of corruption, nepotism,
provoking divisions within the ruling party and
insubordination.

Nyasha Nyakunu, spokesman for media rights watchdog
MISA-Zimbabwe, expressed concern at yet another arrest of a journalist but
could not comment further as details of the case were still
sketchy.

Zimbabwe’s media environment remains one of the most tightly
restricted in the world, characterised by arrests and harassment of
journalists working for the independent media.

Last year, the
US-based Freedom House ranked the country 172 out of 197 countries, the
worst overall ranking in the southern Africa region.

EU makes
diamonds-for-democracy offer to Zimbabwe

BRUSSELS - EU countries have said Zimbabwe can start selling
diamonds and gold in Europe if it holds democratic elections.

The
deal - between Belgium, the home of the world's largest diamond exchange,
and the UK, the former colonial power in Zimbabwe - says the Zimbabwe Mining
Development Corporation (ZDMC) will be taken off the EU's blacklist one
month after the vote, expected in July.

Belgian foreign minister Didier
Reynders told press in Brussels on Monday (18 February) that ZDMC will get
off the hook automatically, unless all 27 EU countries agree "the elections
have not been peaceful, transparent, credible or they have reasonable
grounds to believe ZMDC has been involved in activities undermining
democracy during the election."

He had earlier pushed the UK to get ZDMC
off the list immediately.

EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton
said the diamond offer comes "in recognition of significant political
progress in the country."

EU foreign ministers on Monday also took 27
people and one other company off the Zimbabwe register with immediate
effect.

Twenty one of the individuals are former regime members or
military officers and policemen, some of whom, such as Shuvai Ben Mahofa,
former youth minister, or Dani Rangwani, a police chief, are said by the EU
to be guilty of campaigns of "terror" or of running "torture camps" in the
2008 elections.

The six others are serving government ministers in
minor portfolios, such as tourism or media.

The company, a real
estate firm called Divine Homes, belongs to David Chapfika, a former deputy
agriculture minister, who is one of the group-of-21.

The rest of the
sanctions, on nine firms and 85 people, including President Robert Mugabe,
will stay in force until 20 February 2014.

But EU ministers also promised
that if a referendum on a new constitution in March goes well, then there
might be "an immediate suspension of the majority of all remaining EU
targeted restrictive measures against individuals and entities."

For
its part, the Zimbabwean government met the news with derision.

"We don't
accept any conditional lifting of these illegal sanctions. We don't expect
it to be piecemeal, that is nonsensical as the sanctions are illegal
anyway," a spokesman for Mugabe's Zanu-PF party told Reuters in
Harare.

The EU ministers also agreed to tweak the arms embargo on
Syria so that member states can "provide greater non-lethal support and
technical assistance for the protection of civilians."

Ashton said EU
lawyers will work out the details of which "non-lethal" equipment will be
allowed in the coming days.

"There is nothing fudgy or mushy about this,"
she said.

British foreign minister William Hague, who wanted to go
further by allowing EU shipments of arms to rebels, said the decision will
make it "more easy" to give "aid and assistance," without specifying what
kind of non-lethal equipment he plans to ship.

The ban on arms will
be reviewed in three months' time.

But Polish foreign minister Radek
Sikroski warned "we really don't want to support radical elements" in the
opposition, referring to concerns that weapons could end up in the hands of
jihadists in Syria.

Sikorski also dropped a small bombshell on EU
relations with former Soviet countries.

Looking forward to an EU
summit in Vilnius in November with the so-called Eastern Partnership states
- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine - he said the
six countries might get a promise of one day joining the EU.

"A
series of countries was supportive on attaching a declaration [to the
Vilnius summit conclusions] referring to Article 49 of the EU treaty on a
European perspective for these countries," he said.

‘$1
billion for war veterans’

By Chengetayi Zvauya, Parliamentary
EditorTuesday, 19 February 2013 11:49HARARE - Zimbabwean war veterans —
often seen as rowdy and President Robert Mugabe’s shock troopers in any
election — have demanded $1 billion in fresh gratuities and diamond mining
claims in Marange, it emerged yesterday.

In a shock appeal before
Parliament’s Defence and Home Affairs committee on Monday, the
ex-combatants’ representatives Shadreck Makombe and retired major-general
Richard Ruwodo said their 50 000-strong members wanted $20 000 each, and gem
mining concessions in the east.

“We are now a laughing stock in society
as everyone is looking down upon us. We are not getting the recognition we
deserve for liberating this country...,” said Makombe, adding the Z$50 000
packages they received in 1997 had been exhausted and were now living like
paupers.

While the “black October” hand-outs are believed to have
triggered the collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy, the latest demand for diamond
mining concessions also come as active members of the uniformed forces have
been handed similar concessions in Chiadzwa.

To this end, Ruwodo said
they were seeking an urgent meeting with the octogenarian leader – their
patron – to push for their benefits sine they have not “received anything
from the State for 15 years”.

The appeal to Mugabe was also motivated by
the fact that their efforts were being frustrated by a number of senior
government officials, he said.

“We worked on a national project for the
past 10 months to sustain ourselves, with all the paperwork… being approved
by the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation. However, when we got to the
Ministry of Mines… everything collapsed as there is too much politics,”
Ruwodo told the committee yesterday.

“This is why we are knocking on
many people’s doors, including you the legislators (and) we are looking for
help to access the president,” he added.

At the meeting – also
attended by Defence secretary Martin Rushwaya, Basten Beta and Lazarus Ncube
– the liberation war fighters also said they were not benefitting from Zanu
PF’s indigenisation programme.

The war veterans’ demands also come as
chiefs – seen as quite central to Zanu PF’s re-election campaigns – have
made almost similar demands for outrageous benefits at a time Treasury is
bankrupt.

However, the timing is also curious as the country hurtles
towards a watershed election.

In their view, though, the 1970s
fighters say they are justified as their claims are in line with global
trends and where war heroes were “feted” like kings, and in their belief the
Marange diamonds would do just that.

Paul Madzore, a Movement for
Democratic Change MP and the committee’s chair, had to quell tempers at the
highly-charged meeting and where the ex-liberation fighters also expressed
dissatisfaction over their treatment since independence in 1980.

At
the meeting, the group also demanded a review of their monthly $165
allowances, which they said was insufficient given that poverty line was
$500-plus.

The war veterans also blasted Finance Minister Tendai
Biti’s Treasury for failing to look after their families, especially their
children’s school fees, medical needs, money for income-generating projects
and reburials of their deceased.

“We got $18 million as budget funds
out of a request for $58 million… and the money was not provided,” Ruwodo
said.

“Most of our members are suffering as they are not able to fend for
themselves and their families. These benefits are not privileges, but our
rights,” he said, adding the state had an obligation to look after
them.

With Zimbabwe’s war veterans treated as a reserve force under
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Defence ministry, the bunch yesterday hinted at a
separation and the formation of their own ministry in line with regional
trends or countries like Namibia.

War vets
want mining licence

War veterans want to be given a diamond mining
licence as part of an income generating project aimed at ensuring that
members are weaned from the fiscus, an official has said. Director
responsible for war veterans in the Ministry of Defence, Retired Major
General Richard Ruwodo said they had gone to Marange to conduct due
diligence with the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and have since
signed a memorandum of understanding.

He was giving oral evidence before
a Parliamentary Portfolio committee on Defence and Home Affairs chaired by
Glen View South MP, Mr Paul Madzore (MDC-T)

Rtd Maj Gen Rowodo
alleged that efforts were being stalled by the Ministry of Mines and Mining
Development that appeared reluctant not only to give them licences but to
meet President Mugabe.t some people were deliberately blocking
them.

Contacted for comment yesterday, Mines and Mining Development
Minister Mpofu shot down the claims saying they have not seen their
application.

“We have not seen their application. Due diligence is done
with ZMDC and it is ZMDC that would then make recommendations to us. Many
people are making lies about the Ministry of Mines, there is nothing like
that,” he said.

In his evidence Rtd Maj Gen Ruwodo said Treasury had
failed to give them money for projects. They had hope that extraction of
diamonds at Marange would go a long way in alleviating the plight of war
veterans.

“We have met ZMDC, went to Marange, identified the place we
wanted, did all the paper work and signed a non-disclosure agreement and the
papers were physically moved to the Ministry of Mines where they have been
bogged down,” said Rtd Gen Ruwodo.

“ We want to have our own
mortuary, clinics and that would have succeeded if the Marange project had
succeeded.

“Everything that was required by ZMDC was done. ZMDC did not
have any problems with our documents but when it went to the Ministry of
Mines there was a lot of politics. We were told that if we wanted to extract
coal it was okay but with diamonds you have to see his Excellency, the
President.”

Members of the committee said it was strange for former
liberation fighters to claim that they were failing to secure an appointment
with the President when they have a fully fledged ministry with a Permanent
Secretary and a Minister.

ZNWVA secretary-general Cde Shadreck
Makombe said there was a need to have a stand-alone ministry for them so
that their issues could effectively be dealt with.

He said war
veterans had been reduced to destitutes and were being buried as paupers
owing to the failure by Treasury to sufficiently fund them.

Cde Makombe
said war veterans were the laughing stock not only in the country but in the
region.“When you talk about war veterans you are talking about the country’s
history. If we had a stand-alone ministry, our application for a diamond
licence would have long reached the President,” he said.

Secretary
for Defence Mr Martin Rushwaya said the ministry had bid for US$58 million
for war veterans that would have included US$28 million for projects but
only got US$18 million for education, health and funeral
expenses.

Zimbabwe War Veterans Trust chairperson Cde Bastan Beta said
there was a need for a quota to be reserved for former freedom fighters in
all spheres of the economy, including Cabinet posts.

Calls
for Kasukuwere probe mount

HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has called for
a Parliamentary investigation into the country’s indigenisation programme
saying he was concerned about allegations of gross irregularities and claims
only a few individuals were profiting from the deals.Tsvangirai’s party
has long opposed the programme claiming it does not address the country’s
unemployment crisis in addition to scaring away much-needed foreign
investment. But the MDC-T leader said Monday that allegations some of the
deals may have prejudiced the country warranted a Parliamentary probe.“I
am concerned about the possibility of a few individuals benefitting from a
programme purportedly meant for the majority of the Zimbabweans,” Tsvangirai
said in a statement.“I am equally concerned with reports that some relevant
Government organs were kept in the dark about the full nature of some of
these transactions.”Tsvangirai’s call follows a scathing attack on Reserve
Bank governor Gideon Gono by Zanu PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo who
accused the central bank chief of working with the MDC-T to undermine
President Robert Mugabe’s re-election campaign.Zimbabwe is due to hold
fresh polls later this year and Zanu PF has centred its campaign on the
empowerment programme which forces foreign companies transfer to locals
control and majority ownership of their operations.Leading mining firms,
among them platinum majors Implats and Amplats, and a host of other foreign
companies have already agreed compliance deals with the government in an
exercise spearheaded by Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere who now says
he will target the banking sector next.But allegations of irregularities in
the main deal - Zimplats’ US$750 million transaction - as well as reports a
single Harare firm is pocketing millions from advising on nearly all the
arrangements, having been handed the contract without going to tender, have
raised eyebrows.“Only a proper investigation will expose the truth about
what happened and whether or not the State and the people of Zimbabwe were
prejudiced in any way and whether all procedures and statutes were
followed,” Tsvangirai said.“It is therefore imperative and in the interest
of transparency that Parliament through its relevant committees should probe
this matter.”Finance Minister Tendai Biti, also warned that an MDC-T
government would review and possibly cancel all the indigenisation
agreements, along with diamond mining concessions at Marange.“The MDC …
will revisit and review all clandestine and incestuous agreements made at
night and in secret. We will not legitimise such agreements,” Biti told a
campaign meeting in his Harare East constituency over the weekend.“The MDC
wants to know how many jobs each company will create. We want value addition
on our raw materials thus creating jobs. Let platinum be used to make cars
in our country, so that our children will have jobs in here.“Right now, we
do not know what is happening to our diamonds. We are going to audit all the
diamond income, to trace where the money came from and went to.“We are
watching these things. The people of Zimbabwe are watching. White collar
crimes will cannot be hidden because there will always be an audit trail.”

Zanu (PF)
rejects Gono plan to delay share grabs

RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono has proposed
a supply and distribution model on indigenisation, a suggestion that has
placed him at loggerheads with Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister
Saviour Kasukuwere and Zanu (PF) bigwigs, who favour a more aggressive
approach to empowerment.

Mr Kasukuwere is spearheading the 51%
indigenisation programme, which is the central plank of President Robert
Mugabe’s bid for a seventh consecutive term in office. Mr Gono’s proposal is
hinged on wealth creation for the ordinary masses and a gradual approach at
taking over foreign-owned firms. It moots delaying the 51% takeover of the
firms by almost 20 years.

Other features of Mr Gono’s model include
giving indigenously owned small to medium enterprises the exclusive right to
supply a given proportion of all inputs relating to a specific economic
sector.

Mr Gono said his model "is inspired by the recognition of the
fact that only a few can fit or benefit from the equity-ownership model
being pushed under the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act, with the overall
implication being the unsustainable alienation of the majority of indigenous
people from the noble indigenisation and economic empowerment
drive."

"The model also envisages a gradual approach towards attainment
of the company ownership thresholds by indigenous Zimbabweans, in a manner
that ensures sustainable empowerment, inflows of much-needed foreign capital
and minimal disruption to economic activity."

Economic analyst Eric
Bloch, a senior partner at H&E Bloch consultancy, welcomed Mr Gono’s
proposal to indigenisation, but said the central bank chief’s proposals
would be overridden by political interests. "It’s an election year and Zanu
(PF) is concerned about what gives it leverage. It’s unlikely to give room
to the latest proposals from Mr Gono," said Mr Bloch on Monday.

Mr
Kasukuwere dismissed Mr Gono for being a "noisemaker" and resisting the
fullscale roll-out of the indigenisation programme to the banking sector.
Political observers intimated that the spat exposed the deep divisions and
policy inconsistency that the law had caused within Mr Mugabe’s Zanu (PF)
ranks.

Jonathan Moyo, a Zanu (PF) politburo mem ber, rebuked Mr Gono
at the weekend for his indigenisation proposal and accused him of being
"treacherous".

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Tendai Biti has indicated his
ministry would soon launch a probe into reports of corruption and
irregularities around recent empowerment deals.

Judges'
Protest Over Poor Salaries Expose Disgruntlement

By Professor
Matodzi Harare, February 18, 2013 - A protest by Zimbabwean judges has
exposed the high level of disgruntlement among the country’s senior judicial
officers.The judges who have since 2011 been complaining about poor working
conditions have now demanded a meeting with their employer, the Judicial
Service Commission (JSC).

In a memorandum dispatched to Judge
President George Chiweshe early this month, the judges outlined the topical
issues they want the JSC to tackle during their proposed meeting with JSC
chairperson Godfrey Chidyausiku.

The judicial officers have cited poor
salaries, poor apparel, old computers, and outdated library and as some of
their concerns.

They say the government’s failure to adjust their
salaries had left the judges depressed and frustrated.

The judges
want the JSC to allocate a “relief motor vehicle” whenever a judge’s
personal issued vehicle is unavailable.

The judges charge that their
offices need to be spruced up as they are working under “inhospitable
conditions”.

The JSC, the judges said must also provide them with
research assistants to alleviate the heavy workload which they shoulder and
replenish the judges library which is severely depleted of “relevant books
and reading material”.

In 2011, Chiweshe gave judges a dressing-down
after reading the riot act to them over scruffy dressing and delinquency.
Chiweshe said he was concerned that judges were wearing creased
jabots.

But in response, the judges demanded to be supplied with suits to
give a face lift to their dressing. The judges implored the JSC to supply
them with three suits, five shirts or five blouses and three pairs of shoes
per year.

100
Farmers Stranded at Mashonaland West GMB Depot

WASHINGTON DC — More than 100 communal farmers in
Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland West Province are stranded at Magunje Grain Marketing
Board (GMB) depot after the parastatal failed to pay them for maize
delivered last agricultural season.

According to three lawmakers, the
farmers have nowhere to go as they come from as far afield as Hurungwe West
and other areas.

They said at least 150 farmers received varying amounts
of money last Friday and Saturday but some were left
stranded.

Hurungwe West lawmaker, Severino Tall Chambati said the
situation is chaotic at the GMB depot. “It’s sad that farmers are being
illtreated by the parastatal which has over the years failed to meet its
financial obligations,” said Chambati.

Hurungwe East Member of
Parliament, Sarah Mawoka, said she is among farmers who have not been paid
by the GMB for maize deliveries for almost three years.

Mawoka
claimed that the Ministry of Finance is not concerned about the plight of
these stranded farmers who make a living through crop
cultivation.

Parliamentary agriculture committee chairman Moses Jiri said
the GMB now owes farmers only $750,000 after it paid $20 million for last
year’s maize deliveries.

Air
Zimbabwe Readies For Airbus Flights

By Professor Matodzi Harare,
February 18, 2013- AIR Zimbabwe has engaged South African Airways (SAA) to
carry out some maintenance check on one of its Airbus aircraft as the
airline readies itself to re-launch regional and international flights next
month.Insiders at Air Zimbabwe told Radio VOP that the aircraft maintenance
which commenced last week will last three weeks and will enable the ailing
airline to start operating the Airbus aircraft at the end of
March.

The troubled airline was forced to engage SAA to conduct a
bridging check on its aircraft as it currently has no engineers skilled to
work on Airbus planes.

Air Zimbabwe has already rolled out an
ambitious plan in which it will operate two of its Airbus aircraft on
flights to Ghana, Mauritius, Kenya and Nigeria including on the
Harare-Johannesburg, Dar es Salaam, Lubumbashi and Kinshasa
jaunt.

The airline will also operate one of its Boeing aircraft on
flights into the German city of Munich and reintroduce the London-Harare
flights, which were suspended in January last year.

Meanwhile, the
ailing airline which broke aviation records after flying an empty aircraft
from Johannesburg to Harare upon the resumption of regional flights last
November will at the end of the month take delivery of two planes from
Embraer, a Brazilian aircraft manufacturer.

The government, which is the
majority shareholder for Air Zimbabwe sealed the aircraft lease agreement
deals last year. The embraer ER jets will complement the airline’s depleted
fleet on local and regional flights including Harare-Lusaka, Lilongwe and
Johannesburg routes.

NCA
hauls Mugabe and ZEC to court

Information Alert19 February 2013NCA
HAULS MUGABE AND ZEC TO COURT OVER REFERENDUM

THE National Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) on Tuesday 19 February 2013 filed an urgent chamber
application in the High Court seeking an order interdicting the Zimbabwe
Election Commission from conducting a referendum on the COPAC Draft
Constitution scheduled for 16 March 2013.

In the application, which was
filed by prominent human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama of Mbidzo,
Muchadehama and Makoni Legal Practitioners, who is a member of Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights, the NCA and its chairperson Lovemore Madhuku wants
Proclamation No. 1 of 2013 issued on Friday 15 February 2013 as Statutory
Instrument No. 19/2013 to be declared unlawful and ultra vires Section 3 of
the Referendum Act Chapter 2:10.

The constitutional reform body also
wants the High Court to set aside the proclamation issued by President
Robert Mugabe gazetting 16 March 2013 as the date for the
referendum.Besides ZEC and President Mugabe, the NCA also cited Justice and
Legal Affairs Minister, Patrick Chinamasa and the Director in the Attorney
General’s Civil Division.

Dualisation
of national trunk roads begins

THE Zimbabwe
National Road Administration has started dualising national trunk roads
after securing a US$147 million loan from the African Development Bank for
the dualisation of the road between Norton and Kadoma.

The section of the
highway between Harare and Norton has since been dualised using Government
resources.

Zinara chief executive Mr Frank Chitukutuku, however, told the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructure
Development yesterday that Government would soon announce plans for the
dualisation of the Beitbridge-Harare Road.

“We have received some
good news from the African Development Bank on the dualisation of the same
road that is going to take us from Norton to Kadoma.

“This US$147
million loan will result in the dualisation of the road to somewhere just
after Kadoma and will also include structures on the road that include
bridges and road signs,” he said.

Mr Chitukutuku said the bank was
carrying out due diligence on the project and would complete the exercise by
the end of next month.

He said disbursement of funds and construction
would start in the last quarter of the year.On the Beitbridge-Harare
highway, Mr Chitukutuku said the road could finance itself because it was a
viable road with enough traffic.

“So the ministry (Transport,
Communication and Infrastructure Development) is working to see who can get
a concession to invest on the road. The traffic on the road can pay for the
investment on that road and I think the ministry will be making an
announcement soon.”

AfDB provided the US$206 million to the
rehabilitation of the Plumtree-Bulawayo-Harare-Mutare highway that will also
see the construction of state-of-the-art toll plazas that are fully
computerised to reduce leakages.

The rehabilitation is expected to be
completed by April next year.The Zinara boss said last year the organisation
collected US$84 million through the Road Fund and expected the amount to
increase slightly above US$90 million this year.

He, however,
bemoaned corrupt practices by foreign motorists who were not paying transit
fees saying this had cost Zinara US$2 million between 2010 and
2012.

“In 2010 we collected US$18 million in transit fees but in 2012 we
collected US$16 million.“What we are seeing is that there is a problem
at the borders hence our programme to computerise the system,” he
said.

WOZA: Bertha released on $100 bail

Press statementWomen of Zimbabwe Arise
(WOZA)

WOMEN of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) member, Bertha Sibanda, appeared
inTredgold Magistrates Court Bulawayo charged with contravening
section132 of the Code that is publicly exposing herself and being
anuisance. She was granted bail of $100 on condition that she residesat
her given address and that she must not interfere with witnesses.She
appeared before Court 2 presiding magistrate Mr. Mthethwa. She isdefended by
Kossam Ncube deployed by Zimbabwe Lawyers for HumanRights. She will appear
for a further remand hearing on 4th March2013.

The outline of the
state case reads, “Charge C/S 77 (a) of thecriminal law codification and
reform act Chapter 9:23 “PublicIndecency”. The complainant is the state. It
reads; “4. On the 14February 2013 at about 1600hrs, a group of women was
brought at Z.R.PBulawayo Central by Byo police reaction group following an
unnotifiedgathering at Southampton Building. 5. Accused was amongst the
othergroup of women that followed at Byo Central protesting against
thepolice officers who had taken their partners. 6. Whilst gathered
atZ.R.P Byo Central courtyard, accused Bertha Sibanda indecently
exposedherself by taking off her blouse and skirt and remained wearing a
pantin a public place and within view of Police officers and the
crowdthat was gathered at Z.R.P Byo Central courtyard. 7. Accused
wasarrested by number 9916561 cst Nkenjana who escorted her into
thecharge office where a report was opened. 8 accused acted
unlawful.”

WOZA wish to make known that disrobing is a form of non
violentprotest practiced in many cultures and recognised by the
foremostscholar of Nonviolence Professor Gene Sharp. Professor
Sharp’sauthored 198 methods of protest and symbolic public acts.
Protestdisrobings appears as number 22.

WOZA wish to object to the
selective application of the law and wasteof court resources in this
case.“It is clear that if you are a member of Zanu PF you can
stripwithout consequence in front of the American ambassador but if
youhappen to be a member of WOZA; you are denied access to food, held
inpolice custody for 4 days then you are arraigned before court thatwill
continue to use scarce resources to persecute you by prosecution.

Zimbabwe/Zambia
electricty debt

ZESA Holdings
says the creation of a sinking fund with a local bank would enable Zimbabwe
clear its US$70,8 million debt owed to Zambia after the creation of a
sinking fund with a local bank.

Giving an update on operations
before the Parliamentary Committee of State Enterprises and Parastatals
today, Zesa chief executive Engineer Joshua Chifamba said

Chifamba
said Zesa had made progress on the old debt owed to its northern neighbours
clearing the way for work on the Batoka electricity project to
begin.

“Zesa has paid US$20 million after the creation of a sinking
fund with a local bank and should have paid an additional US$20 million by
the end of March this year,” he said.

“The amount should be cleared
by the end of March next year with work on the project expected to begin
within 18 months as expressions of interest had been advertised,” he
said.

Batoka is situated 50kms downstream of Victoria Falls and would
provide 800 MW of hydro power generation capacity for each of the two
countries (1 600MW for both).

Zambia said they would not partner
Zimbabwe until the asset debt accrued during the Federation-era was cleared.
The principal amount owing was US$70,8 million but there was also an
interest charge of US$115 million which has been accruing since dissolution.
Interest is being charged at 5,2 million per annum.

The debt also
includes proceeds of the sale of assets belonging to former Central African
Power Corporation disbanded in 1987, where Zimbabwe reportedly benefited
more. CAPCO was running the Kariba power project for the two countries
during Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland era.

He said the amount owed
to Zesa Holdings by customers has ballooned to US$730 million since
dollarisation of the economy in 2009. Chifamba said. huge corporates were
the biggest debtors, accounting for nearly a third of the
amount.

“The money we are owed has risen to US$730 million and of the
total amount, domestic consumers owe us US$261 million,” said Chifamba.
“This puts us in a very tight position (in terms of viability).”

Zesa
embarked on a rollout programme of prepaid meters last year in a bid to
improve revenue inflows, but this is moving at a much slower pace than
anticipated due to funding problems. By last month, Zesa had installed only
55 000 prepaid meters in domestic premises countrywide since August last
year against a target of 600 000 households.

The MDC Today

Gutu-Albert Musvosvo an MDC branch chairman in ward 17, Gutu Central
Constituency, was severely assaulted by a mob of Zanu PF supporters at the
weekend and sustained deep facial injuries.

According to Gutu Central legislator Honourable Oliver Chirume, the incident
happened at Rasa Business Centre around 5 pm on Sunday when Musvosvo and fellow
party members were coming from a party meeting .When they arrived at the
business centre, the Zanu PF mob allegedly began to shout abusive words at the
MDC supporters.Musvosvo, who is in his late 50s then told the Zanu PF mob to
behave in a dignified manner.

The mob reportedly surrounded him and started assaulting him.

“The group was led by Stan Mukotami who is the Zanu PF chairman for ward 17.
Musvosvo tried to advise the 20 Zanu PF supporters that they should behave in a
more dignified manner .The Zanu PF mob told him they had been looking for him
for a long time .They surrounded him and beat him up.Mukotami punched him on the
face and he lost two front teeth. He was rescued by fellow party members who
then accompanied him to Basera Police camp before going to Gutu Mission Hospital
for treatment .We have not received anything regarding police

investigations and we understand no one has been arrested so far. This could
be an indication Zanu PF is not sincere about ending political violence, “said
Honourable Chirume.

Although no comment could be obtained from Mukotami, Gutu Central
Constituency secretary for Information and Publicity Lloyd Mupfudze said the
Zanu PF supporters behaved in an overzealous manner.

“The Zanu PF supporters reflected their unwillingness to repent. Our members
were coming from a district meeting that was held at Dewure Business Centre and
they simply intended to buy some refreshments at

the business centre. That is when Zanu PF supporters began to insult them and
proceeded to attack a hapless Musvosvo.In actual fact Musvosvo told them that
they should show some semblance of discipline and that is why they assaulted
him, “said Mupfudze.

”This incident has once again exposed Zanu PF `s lack of commitment towards
ending political violence. It is most disturbing to encounter such an
unfortunate incident as the nation gears for the

referendum. However we hope the new constitution will effectively address
matters of political hooliganism and we are also believe that elections will be
held under a conducive environment. We must remain cautious as we go to the
referendum, “ Mupfudze added.

Message from the HRT Director

Dear Colleague,

The HRT is in the process of going through the
whole Draft Constitution as agreed by the principals in the Inclusive
Government of Zimbabwe. But we particularly bringing to your attention
Chapter 14 herein attachedthat deals with the issue of Provincial and Local
Government for your information. We would appreciate your feedback on this
and other matters related to the Draft Constitution, knowing that if you are
available you will participate in casting your Yes/ No vote. In our view it
is important for you to know what you are voting for. In case you need the
whole document please let us know or just visit the Constitutional
parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC) website www.copac.org.zw

EU Sanctions‏,
Global Witness, and ZMDC

The London-based campaigning group, Global Witness today
(Tuesday)welcomed the European Union’s (EU) decision to keep the Zimbabwe
Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) on the list of sanctioned businesses,
while at the same time warning the EU that there are now gaps in the
sanctions list, which could result in diamond revenue funding President
Robert Mugabe’s military.

ZANU-PF’s outburst at EU sanctions lifting a
fore-warning there will not be a free and fair election

On Monday the
European Union lifted a travel ban on 21 individuals who include six ZANU-PF
ministers as well as one company. The target based sanctions, imposed on
Zimbabwe by the West at the height of the land reform in the early 2000s,
were mainly placed on Mugabe’s cronies and their businesses. Over the years,
since the signing of the Global Political Agreement in 2009, have been eased
and relaxed graduallywith the western nations reviewing whether to lift the
sanctions annually.

The latest lifting of the ban is attached with
certain conditions, chiefly the holding of peaceful free and fair elections.
ZANU-PF, instead of responding to the EU with a pledge of hosting free and
fair elections attacked them with vengeance.

“The decision by the EU
to remove certain individuals and companies from their illegal sanctions
list is outrageous and preposterous.

ZANU-PF will never accept any
conditional removal of the illegal sanctions,” Rugare Gumbo, the ZANU-PF
spokesman responded when asked about this latest development. ZANU-PF wants
an “unconditional and total” lifting of the elections.

EU did not
however remove sanctions on the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation,
keeping those measures at least until the conclusion of the upcoming
elections. The keeping of the sanctions on ZMDC is a welcome measure
considering that the company is responsible for funding ZANU-PF in all its
endeavors, including state-sponsored violence against members of the former
opposition, the MDCs. The lifting of the ban on ZMDC was requested by
Belgium, where Antwerp, the world’s biggest diamond trading centre, is
based, who pushed for it to be freed from the sanctions ban.

ZMDC was
given a grace period of at least a month after the elections to see whether
it can be fully rid of the sanctions by the EU. ZANU-PF has, since the
discovery of diamonds in the eastern province of Manicaland been dependent
on the revenues from diamonds to fund their loyalists in their political
rivalry against their fierce rivals, the MDCs. They will not be affected by
the EU’s refusal to lift sanctions on ZMDC because the diamonds from ZMDC
are still in demand in Asia and thus, they are guaranteed more revenue for
their state-sponsored and target based violence against their
rivals.

Whilst ZANU-PF may have dismissed the latest developments as
“outrageous and preposterous” it leaves one wondering what it is that
ZANU-PF really wants. In 2012 they sent their chief lawyer, Attorney General
Tomana to go and challenge the EU to lift the “illegal sanctions” they
imposed on Zimbabwe. Now that there is an impartial lifting of the
sanctions, they are still reluctant to accept such developments because they
still want the EU to remove them wholly without them playing a part
also.

The EU has demanded that ZANU-PF allow a free and fair election to
take place and this latest outburst on EU shows that they are not willing to
play along with the EU by guaranteeing a just and fair election. Zimbabwe
has a record of bloody and unjust elections and since 2001, all the
elections that have taken place in Zimbabwe are nothing but a farce that
have legitimized Mugabe’s hold on power at the expense of the people. SADC
have over the years certified these elections as free and fair because they
always succumb to Mugabe’spressure.

Why is it that ZANU-PF does
not wish to reciprocate to these measures by EU? The EU ambassador to
Zimbabwe, Dell’Ariccia assured ZANU-PF that all these restrictive measures
would be removed if the elections are free and fair. Only through a peaceful
free and fair will result in “an immediate suspension of the majority of all
remaining targeted restrictive measures against individuals and entities,”
Ambassador Dell was quoted on Monday at a press briefing in Harare. Since
independence, ZANU-PF are yet to guarantee Zimbabweans such conditions for a
free and fair election and thus all this noise is just a message to the EU
that unfortunately ZANU-PF cannot guarantee a free and fair
election.

Such utterances are the last thing that Zimbabweans want to
hear as we are only weeks away from the constitution referendum, penciled
for the 16th of March. Memories and wounds from the 2008 harmonised
elections are still fresh on the people of Zimbabwe. Everyone is aware that
ZANU-PF will not succumb to any pressure from anyone to host peaceful
elections if it means them losing their grip on Zimbabwe. They will do
everything in their means to ensure that their challengers will not taste
victory. 2008 is testimony to that. Rugare Gumbo’s statements are not only
addressed at the EU’s partial lift on sanctions but to all their political
foes in Zimbabwe as we approach Election Day. The partial relax on the
sanctions was dismissed as nothing but plans by the West to further their
economic interests in Zimbabwe. ZANU-PF has for ages dismissed the MDC-T as
a puppet of the EU and such developments are just seen by ZANU-PF as an
attempt to appease the people to vote for the MDC-T now that there sanctions
are being relaxed, albeit gradually. ZANU-PF fails to understand that the
west will not remove sanctions without any reforms because it is because of
ZANU-PF’s autocratic rule that brought these sanctions to Zimbabwe in the
first place. The only way in which the West will remove these sanctions is
if ZANU-PF reforms. The latest lifting of sanctions was brought about by
ZANU-PF’s part in the drafting of the constitutional draft. All the
countries that had placed Zimbabwe on sanctions were encouraged by
this.

Zimbabwe hosting free and fair elections this year is a long short
because the conditions facing the country at present are the same conditions
we faced in 2008. The draconian laws such as POSA that give ZANU-PF an
unfair advantage over their rivals are still there. Most of the reforms that
were meant to be implemented at the signing of the GPA are yet to be
implemented and unless if their implemented before June a repeat of 2008 is
upon us. ZANU-PF have failed to guarantee Zimbabwe a peaceful free and fair
election, they are more concerned with starting a verbal warfare with the EU
than guaranteeing their own people a just election for once.

Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC] adverse reportThe Committee has agreed on
an adverse report on SI 4/2013.It will
be presented to the Senate this week.The adverse report does not itself invalidate the regulations, but if it
is approved by the Senate, the House of Assembly then has up to twenty-one days
in which to reverse the Senate’s decision – otherwise President is under a
constitutional obligation to revoke the SI.

The decision of Parliament to accept or reject the adverse report
depends on voting in the Houses – this decision does not have the same status as
a court ruling that the SI is or is not unconstitutional or ultra vires and invalid.Only a court can deliver a legally binding
decision on that question.If Parliament
does not accept its own Legal Committee’s opinion, there is nothing to stop a
challenge to the regulations in the High Court.

Attorney General’s Office Amendment Bill

The
Attorney General’s Office Act, although passed by Parliament and gazetted in
early 2011, has never been brought into operation, because concerns were raised
about some of its provisions.This Bill
aims to address those concerns and will, if passed into law, enable the Act to
be brought into force at last.

The Bill was gazetted on 8th February [available
from veritas@mango.zw].Under Parliamentary Standing Orders it cannot
be formally introduced in either House until two weeks after gazetting [the
first opportunity would be 26th February].The explanatory memorandum accompanying the Bill says that its purpose is
“to amend
the Attorney General’s Office Act in such a manner that the Attorney-General is enabled to uphold
the independence of his or her office in the discharge of his or her
constitutional mandate under section 76 of the Constitution”.Section 76 of the Constitution
states the Attorney General’s powers as the nation’s chief prosecutor
and vests them in the Attorney-General “to the exclusion of any other person or authority”.

The
Bill proposes changes in the composition of the Attorney General’s Office Board
as follows:

·The
Attorney-General will be the chairperson of the Board.Under the current provision the Attorney-General is merely an ordinary
member and the chairperson is a legal practitioner from outside the
Office.

·All Deputy Attorneys General
will be ex officio members of the
Board.Under the current provision they
are not on the Board.This change would
give members of the Office greater representation on the Board.There are three Deputy Attorneys General at
the moment.

The only other change is the insertion of a statement that the powers
of the Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs to give general policy directions
to the Board must be exercised “subject to the provisions of section 76 of the
Constitution”.This is in fact an
unnecessary change – as the Constitution is the supreme law, the Minister’s
powers must be exercised subject to section 76 whether or not the Act says so in
as many words.

Comment:It is strange that
after such a long wait the Bill is coming up at this stage.The draft Constitution may be enacted into
law before mid-year.If it is, it will
necessitate not only major changes to the Attorney-General’s Office, but also setting up of separate National Prosecuting Authority [NPA]
headed by an independent Prosecutor-General, to take over the Attorney-General‘s prosecuting functions.The
NPA will require an Act of its own – the draft Constitution explicitly lays this
down.

Income Tax BillThis Ministry of Finance
Bill had its First Reading on 12th February and was referred to the Parliamentary
Legal Committee [PLC] for its report on the Bill’s constitutionality.The Second Reading stage cannot start until
the PLC report is received.

Microfinance BillThe Speaker announced that
the Parliamentary
Legal Committee [PLC] had returned a non-adverse report on the Bill, which can
proceed to its Second Reading.

Securities Amendment BillThe House approved a motion
by the Minister of Finance restoring this Bill to the Order Paper at the stage
reached when it lapsed at the end of the last Session.This means the PLC can complete its
consideration of the Bill.

MotionsDebate started on motions
concerning:

Historical importance of certain prisonsHon Kanzama introduced his
motion calling for the renaming and declaration as national
monuments of Hwahwa, Sikhombela and Gonakudzingwa Prisons.

Residential care institutionsThe Portfolio Committee on Public Service Labour, and Social Welfare’s
report on The Status of Residential Care Institutions in Zimbabwe was presented [report available from veritas@mango.zw]

Question TimeQuestions included several
for the Minister of Finance on funding for the Referendum and the UNWTO
conference, and others for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on
mining policies and revenues, and the Minister of Education on examination
results and education problems.Detailed
responses were given.

Senate

BillsThere were no Bills on the
Order Paper.So far this year no Bills
have been passed in the House of Assembly and transmitted to the Senate for its
consideration.

Motions

There were further contributions to the debates on the Vice-President
Nkomo condolence motion and the motion to thank the President for his speech
opening the Session.

Motion on the death penalty approvedSenator Marava’s motion
calling for Government action to move towards abolition of the death penalty was
debated on both Tuesday and Wednesday.All contributors to the debate were opposed to the death penalty and many
stressed that capital punishment was introduced by the colonists and had no
place in traditional culture.Senator
Chief Charumbira and Senator Mohadi, while not speaking in favour of the death
penalty, reminded Senators that they had only a few days before enthusiastically
accepted the draft constitution, which expressly permits it.At the end of the debate the motion was
passed by 16 votes to 15.[Note: The clause in the draft constitution merely permits the law to
provide for the death penalty in limited circumstances; it certainly would not
prohibit Parliament from passing an Act to abolish the death
penalty.]

Coming Up in Parliament This Week

House of Assembly

Bills

Microfinance BillItem 1 on the Order Paper
for 19th February is the Minister of Finance’s speech explaining this Bill at
the commencement of the Second Reading stage.

The Minister’s two other Bills are under consideration by the PLC.

MotionsDebate on motions carried
over from last week is due to continue.New motions near the top of the Order Paper for 19th February include
presentations of portfolio committee reports on the Asiagate Scandal,
Local Authorities, and the ESSAR deal.

QuestionsThe ten questions listed for
Ministerial reply on 20th February include questions on:

·the Chisumbanje Ethanol project

·the War Victims Pension Fund

Senate

BillsThere are still no Bills for
the Senate to work on.

Motions

Motion to revive POSA Amendment BillFirst item on the Order
Paper for Tuesday 19th February is Hon Gonese’s motion asking Senators to
restore the POSA Amendment Bill to the Order Paper – this is a lapsed motion
from the last Session and from the Session before. The Bill but has been stalled
in the Senate ever since it was passed by the House of Assembly in December 2010
[see Bill Watch 4/2013 of 5th February
].Note: Another option for Mr Gonese is to ask the House of Assembly to
send the Bill straight to the President for signature, in terms of
Constitutional provision Schedule 4 para 3, as the Senate has taken too long to
deal with it.

Debate is also due to continue on motions carried over from last
week: the vote of thanks to the President, and the Vice-President Nkomo
condolence motion.

Question Time on ThursdayOne question is listed, for the Minister of Mines and Mining
Development: it seeks information on haphazard illegal mining activities at
Benson Mine in Mudzi district.

Government Gazettes of 12th and 15th February

Statutory Instruments [SIs]

Referendum date proclamationSI 19/2013 set 16th March as
the date for the Referendum on the draft constitution[SI
available from veritas@mango.zw].Also published with the same Government Gazette was the
full text of the draft.

Mandatory blending of unleaded petrol and ethanolSI 17/2013 requires
mandatory blending of unleaded petrol imported by pipeline or rail.[NOT
available from Veritas]

Collective bargaining agreement: Tourism IndustrySI 18/2013 sets wages and
allowances for this industry, effective 1st October 2012.[NOT available from Veritas]

Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal
responsibility for information supplied